This invention relates to a fishing reel of the kind which comprises a line spreading mechanism including a rotatable involute screw in disconnectable driving engagement with a line spreading member which is reciprocable by means of the involute screw for spreading a fishing line evenly along a line spool, when the fishing line is wound up thereon.
For spreading the fishing line evenly along the line spool, when the fishing line is wound up thereon after casting, fishing reels of this kind are equipped with a line spreading mechanism constructed to work according to either of two main principles.
Most common is a construction wherein the line spreading mechanism comprises a line spreading member consisting of a pair of spaced apart parallel arms which form a line guide and are connected at their tops and fixed at their base ends to a common support. The support also supports a screw follower which always is in engagement with the endless thread of a rotatable involute screw. When, upon casting, the fishing line runs out and rotates the line spool, the latter drives the line spreading mechanism via a transmission connected to the involute screw, which means that this mechanism, mainly because the reciprocable line spreading member is being driven via the involute screw and the transmission, restrains the free rotation of the line spool.
A more complicated and expensive construction operating according to the other of the main principles mentioned above, is characterised in that the two arms of the line spreading member are separable from each other at their outer and inner ends and are disconnectable from the involute screw thread by means of a disconnecting device, whereupon the two arms are moved apart by spring means and parked in positions adjacent opposite end walls of the fishing reel frame, in which positions they are not reciprocated by the line spool via the involute screw.
In spite of the fact that the second principle discussed above is wholly sound, fishing reels having a line spreading mechanism of this type suffer from several shortcomings and have not met with unreserved success due to malfunction in the complicated assembly of a plurality of cooperating elements.
Therefore, in order to make the function more reliable, it has been proposed to use two separate guides instead of a single guide for the line spreading member, such as one guide for guiding a support for the separable line spreading arms and another guide for guiding a separate support for the screw follower bolt which makes it necessary to provide a disconnectable coupling between these separate supports. This introduces a further mechanical complication, and in addition there is a greater risk of an irretrievable entanglement of the fishing line if the latter, for example when the line spool rotates at higher speed than the out-running speed of the fishing line during a cast, is caught between the relatively reciprocating supports.